Right now I am on the fence on what to do about my gym. My (free) student membership ran out Sept 1st since I graduated in the spring.. so I no longer have access to my local Universities fine facilities (which is the best gym in the city bar none) without paying the monthly fee. I don't mind paying a monthly fee, but the kicker is parking. Since I am currently a University employee I am entitled to a parking pass, but I have to pay $20 a month for this pass and it is still a good 10 minute walk from the gym. When winter hits in the prairies, 10 minutes is a long time
So its $65 a month and a 10-15 minute walk to the gym, OR I go to this new Civic Center (Shaw center) that just opened up near my place. They have an Olympic size swimming pool (i will get to this in a moment), brand new weight lifting facilities and a full sized indoor track which is really nice. I would be sold on this place since it is A) 5 minutes from my house (Campus is roughly 20-25 depending on traffic), B) brand new facility!
The problem is when I went to test it out for a day, they didn't have a squat machine! It is common knowledge for weight lifting that if you aren't doing squats, you aren't doing it right. All they have is a smith machine and like NoWorries already said, those are garbage for squats. So I guess my only alternative is either stay at my current gym for $30 more a month, or go to the new gym and do goblet squats.. which I find do not work nearly as well as regular squats.
Ok now that my life story is on the table I have a new question, swimming lanes! I find that with hockey my joints get enough high impact and I don't need to be sprinting all the time (even though I always make sure to do two sets of 20 minute interval sprints a week, that is a must for fat burn). I am not a fan of jogging I never really have been, I prefer the bike or row machine, hell even the eliptical.
My question for the swimmers in the crowd is, what are the essentials that a "newb" needs to know to hit the lanes? I have heard from a few people that goggles and ear plugs are a must, swim trunks? Any type works to start? Cap is optional based on chlorine damage to the hair?
What about technique? I am confident in my swimming abilities, I have grown up in the water at the lake etc.. but I am far from a pro. Worth it to take a refresher course? Just hop in and swim for a bit and maybe compare my moves with vidoes on youtube and articles on the internet?